Draft-equalizer.



Patented July l6, |90|L a. A. COUCHMAN.

DRAFT EHUALIZER.

(Application filed May 11, 1901.)

(No Model.)

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UNlTEU Srarijs GEORGE A. COUCHMAN,

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Oh GARFIELD, KANSAS.

DRAFT-= 'QUALlZER.

$PEGIFKGAT1ON forming part of Letters Siatent No. 6758,6491, dated July 16, 1901.

Application filed May 11, 1901. Serial No. 59,881. (No model.)

To CLZZ whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, Gnonen A. COUGHMAN,

a citizen of the United States, residing at Garfield, in the county of Pawnee and State of Kansas, have invented a new and useful Draft-Equalizer, of which the following is a specification.

The present invention relates to draftequalizers, especially to that class employed in connection with gang-plows. In equalizers now commonly in use for this purpose it has heretofore been necessary to hitch the animals to one side of the center of draft, thus creating a side draft that is very undesirable, because of the increased strain upon the animals and the difficulty of keeping the plows in proper line.

One object of this invention is to overcome the above objections by providing a construction in which the connection between the animals and the plows is made at the central line of draft, thus obviating any side draft and any tendency of the plows to move out of alinement.

A further object is to provide an exceed ingly inexpensive construction that can be ap plied to any well-known evener now in use without the necessity of cutting or otherwise disfiguring it.

To the accomplishment of these objects the construction described in the following specification and illustrated in the accompanying drawings is preferred, although it will be understood that such slight changes may be made therefrom as are within the scope of the appended claims.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a perspective View of an evener having the improvement applied thereto. Fig. 2 is a vertical cross-section through the clevis connection. Fig. 3 is a vertical cross-section through the improved bracket. Fig. 4 is a perspective view of the bracket detached.

Similar reference characters designate corresponding parts in all the figu res of the drawings.

In carrying out the invention as shown in the accompanying drawings an evener-beam 10 is provided, to the central portion of which is pivotally'secured the clevis'connection, (designated as a whole by the reference-numeral11.) This connection comprises a pair of substantially U-shaped clips 12 and 13, swiveled together and having oppositely-disposed jaws 1a and 15, the jaws 14: being arranged to embrace the olevis 16 and be secured thereto by means of a bolt 17, the jaws 15 of the clip 13 in like manner embracing the evener-beam 10 and being fastened thereto by means of the bolt 18. It will thus be seen that the clip 12 may be arranged in either a horizontal or a vertical position, and thus be secured to either a horizontally or a vertically disposed clevis. Links 19 are pivoted to one end of the beam 10 by means of a vertically-disposed bolt 20, and between the outer ends of these links is located the whiflietree, a portion of which is shown and designated 21. To the other end of the ovener-beam there is secured a bracket 22, which is of substantially U shape, one of the arms 23 being secured to the under side of the beam by means of the bolts 24, that pass through the same, while the other or supporting arm 25 is spaced from and arranged longitudinally over the end of the beam 10. This supporting-arm 25 is provided with a plurality of pivot-openings 26, and a stirrup 27 is pivotally secured to said arm by means of a bolt 28, that passes through one of the openings 26. This stirrup is preferably made of a single piece of metal bent double to form a pair of spaced jaws, between which a whiffietree 29 is placed. These jaws also embrace the supporting-arn1 25, as clearly shown in Fig. 3.

It has heretofore been necessary in order to have the plows in proper arrangement to attach the evener at substantially the point marked A in Fig. 1. This is to one side of the center of the draft, and therefore a very undesirable side draft is created. With the present construction, however, it will be seen that the connection is made at the central line of draft, so that the side draft is entirely obviated. The construction for carrying this out is very simple and may be applied to any evener-beam without the necessity of cutting or otherwise mutilating the same. Furthermore, the stirrup may be adjusted on the supporting-arm to accommodate different kinds of plows.

From the foregoing it is thought that the construction, operation, and many advan tages of the herein-described invention will be apparent to those skilled in the art without further description, and it will be understood that various changes in the size, shape, proportion, and minor details of construction may be resorted to Without departing from the spirit or sacrificing any of the advantages of the invention.

Having thus described myinvention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by means of Letters Patent, is

1. In a draft-equalizer, the combination with an evener-beam, of a substantially U- shaped bracket, one arm of which is secured to the beam, the other arm being arranged longitudinally of and spaced from said beam, and means pivotally connected to the spaced arm and arranged to be attached to a whiffletree.

2. In a draftequalizer, the combination with an evener-beam, of a substantially U- shaped bracket one arm of which is secured to the beam, the other arm being arranged longitudinally of and spaced from said beam, said latter arm being provided with a plurality of openings, a stirrup embracing the spaced arm and havingspaced jaws arranged to embrace a whiffletree, and a pivot-bolt connecting the stirrup and spaced arm and passing through one of the openings in said arm.

3. In a draftequalizer, the combination with an evener-beam pivoted intermediate its ends, of a bracket secured at its outer end to one end of the beam and having an arm spaced from and located longitudinally of the beam, said arm projecting inward toward the pivot of said beam, and means for securing a whiffletree to the arm of the bracket.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my own I have hereto affixed my signature in the presence of two witnesses.

GEORGE A. COUOHMAN.

Witnesses:

N. O. WAYMIRE, JOHN S. OLSON. 

